Falling Temperatures

“Dreams, nightmares, and visions; you can’t tell the difference, can you youngling?” this voice was strange and alien, however I could swear I heard it before.

“Who are you, and furthermore what are you?” I asked cautiously. The voice began to take shape, adopting the form of a tall dark grey stallion with a white mane.

“I have been called many things, spirit, god, demon; but you may call me Bloodlust,” he said warmly.

“As for what I am that is a longer story,” he said turning away.

“Please, tell me, I want to know. The last person to visit me here in the void had a few stories so I’m willing to listen to more,” I had no idea why I was trying to comfort him but he smirked and turned back.

“Very well, but you may not like what you see,”

“If it’s like what I saw before this will be nothing,” I said confidently.

“If it’s what Tia showed you, you’re not prepared at all for this,” his voice was dark and foreboding. I had barely registered he said “Tia” when pain and darkness gripped me.

I awoke in a cavern illuminated by all manners of precious gemstones.

“Rarity and Spike would go nuts in here,” I thought snickering.

I began to wander through the cave until I happened upon a fork in the passages.

“Left,” was whispered in my ear causing me to jump and turn around. There stood Bloodlust with a smug smile on his face.

“Ass,” I spat at him. He merely chuckled in return as he pointed down the left cavern again.

I nodded and proceeded down the passage. The caver seemed to stretch for quite some time; all the while the concentration of red gemstones seemed to steadily increase, turning the cavern a bright crimson.

“Blood rubies,” whispered Bloodlust “the only other sustenance our kind can consume,”

“An alternate food source? Yes! That means we don’t have to kill or manipulate anymore!” I shouted gleefully.

Bloodlust simply shook his head, “This deposit is not enough for all our kind. We would need to fine a fairly mountainous supply just to maintain the current population,”

My ears drooped as we continued walking. Soon we happened across a small chamber with a blood ruby alter. Upon the alter sat a scroll sealed by powerful charm.

“This must be what Daring Do found isn’t it?” I asked Bloodlust.

“Yes, but that isn’t why we are here, we are here for that,” he pointed to an odd blue hued crystal in the back of the chamber. Embedded in the crystal was a blade crafted from what looked like blood ruby and what looked to be some of the finest quality steel. I could feel the power emanating off the blade as it slept in its gemstone prison.

“When Daring Do found the scroll that carried my brothers and me she tried to remove the sword also. She failed miserably and resided to taking the scroll to Luna and Celesta. Celestia came under the influence of myself and my brothers, we tortured her in her dreams and soon even in her waking moments. She tried to eliminate us, and yet she failed at this also. However instead of submitting to our will she rebelled and wanted to have our kind and hers become one. Friends as you would call it. This was met with crippling failure as my brother Rage pushed Celestia into transforming in front of her student and sister.

“The Day the Sun Set,” I remarked quietly.

“Yes indeed,” he affirmed “That blade however may be your ticket to salvation,”

“What’s so special about it?”

“That blade is called Soul Render; it can purge my brothers and I’s influence on your kind,” I looked up gleefully at his now even more somber face, “However the cost of wielding Soul Render is high,”

“How high?” I questioned.

“The one who wields the legendary Soul Render shall call the source of the demon fragments they collect. Meaning by eliminating the spirits inside you targets, you would invite my brothers and I into your soul,”

“What would happen once you all arrived?”

“The same thing that happened to Celestia, however I felt something within you that I have never seen, even in my immortal existence. You carry with you a link to nature on a fundamental level. This type of link is only shared with one other in your world, the purple one I believe?”

“Rage shifts? What do they have to do with anything?” I said raising an eyebrow.

“Your connection may allow you to reseal my brothers and me into another medium,”

I looked at him with a skeptical look on my face before I spoke up again,

“Who was the last one to seal you away?” I asked

“I believe your aforementioned purple friend is a big fan of his,” a sly grin crossed his mouth as my eyes widened in recognition.

“Starswirl had a rage shift? What was it?” I said hoping to give this info to Twi later on.

“His link was to light and per extension a link to the princesses themselves,”

I stood there mouth agape before I began to hear hoofsteps in the distance. Daring Do’s form was visible through the crimson light but before we could move Bloodshed whisked us back to the void. Only for my sanctity to be shattered by a booming voice.

“THOU SHALL NOT POISON THE MINDS OF THINE SUBJECTS FOUL CREATURE! BEGON FROM THIS PLACE!” Luna’s voice echoed in my subconscious as Bloodlust faded from view and whispering,

“The blade…”

“Luna what are you doing here?” I asked innocently. She snorted in return as if to say “Duh saving your ass”

“What were you doing with the demon?” she spat at me.

“He was merely showing me where Daring had found the scroll, and the location of a powerful weapon,”

She looked me over to see if I was lying.

“Memory spell…NOW!” she commanded.

I knelt down and she began the spell. She had a very interesting look on her face for a while. That is until she heard Bloodlust’s retelling of Celestia’s downfall. She began to openly sob as the reality of what she did settled on her.

“Tia…oh Tia why didn’t I listen to you, I could have helped,” she sobbed to herself.

I approached her and placed a hand on her shoulder. When I made contact she looked up at me with teary eyes. Before I could react I was pulled into a bone crushing hug as Luna let loose a wail of pain and loss. We stayed like that until my void collapsed and I was forced back into reality; leaving a broken Luna floating in the dreamscape.